Olympisch Stadion (Amsterdam)
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The Olympisch Stadion was built as the main stadium for the 1928 Summer Olympics. It was designed by the architect Jan Wils.
As completed, the stadium had a capacity of 34,000. However, after the construction of De Kuip in Rotterdam in 1937, the authorities in Amsterdam increased the size of the Olympisch Stadion to 64,000 to compete. After the Olympics, the stadium was used regularly for various sporting events, including athletics, speedway, field hockey and cycling (in 1954, the Tour de France started outside the stadium). However, it was football that remained the most popular. It was both Blauw Wit FC and BVC Amsterdam's (later merged into FC Amsterdam) home ground, while AFC Ajax used the stadium for games in which the crowd was expected to exceed the capacity of its own De Meer Stadion, or for midweek games which required the use of floodlights (which the De Meer was not initially built with). Ajax continued this arrangement until 1996 and the opening of the Amsterdam ArenA. After Ajax left the stadium, it was refurbished into the original construction (removing the second ring), and made suitable for track & field competitions.
Olympisch Stadion was home to the NFL Europe American football team the Amsterdam Admirals for the 1995 and 1996 seasons. It hosted the 1995 World Bowl in which the hometown Admirals lost 26-22 to the Frankfurt Galaxy in front of over 23,000 fans. When the Admirals were forced to schedule their last home game of the 2000 season against the Scottish Claymores away from the ArenA as Euro 2000 preparations were finalised, they made a return to the venue in what turned out to be one of the most unusual games in American football history. One of the end zones was ruled unsafe by the officials, so it was decided that the teams would change ends at every change of posession and play towards the other end zone.
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